This invention relates to a method and process for converting raw coal efficiently to its finished products. Raw coal is processed through a sequence of steps into usable end products and electrical energy.
Large deposits of raw coal in many areas of the world are relatively inaccessible to large population and industrial centers where the coal can be readily utilized. Transportation of the coal from these areas, mining costs, and similar economic factors have limited the exploitation of these resources. In the United States alone, large deposits, especially in Alaska, have not been the subject of extensive mining because of economic and transportation difficulties inherent in any attempt to exploit these resources. Accordingly, a process for converting coal into products which can be economically shipped from a point located at or near the mining site has increasingly been desired.
The prior art discloses numerous methods for processing coal, including gasification, and methods of transportation, including various methods for creating coal slurries, see References 1-2. However, a workable system integrating into one economic unit means capable of exploiting these remote coal resources has not been accomplished. Additionally, restraints are placed on the exploitation of coal in that any process utilizing coal must meet modern environmental and pollution standards. A processing system capable of economically exploiting remote coal resources in an environmentally acceptable fashion is described and claimed herein.